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This is an unrelated question, so I'm putting it in a different thread. How will Passkeys work for users who don't have or want a smartphone? There are plenty

This is an unrelated question, so I'm putting it in a different thread. How will Passkeys work for users who don't have or want a smartphone? There are plenty of people who carry no electronic devices on their person, and who primarily access the Internet through library access stations, other public Internet services. or multiple desktops. Will they be unable to use a site that is passkey-auth-only until they get such a device?

WorldMaker 4y ago
Very good questions and I've been wondering that some myself. I imagine of the Big 3 Microsoft is likely the one to have been thinking about this the most. With Microsoft no longer having a smartphone ecosystem of their own, they will likely have to support both Apple and Android devices and they probably also need to have more answers for the "neither" scenarios as well (de-Googled Android users still sometimes have Windows PCs, for instance; Windows users are said to include a larger share of older "dumb phone" generations; etc). Also, most of those access stations themselves are generally Windows PCs for the intersection of cheapest available hardware and lowest common denominator software. (Though I've heard Chrome OS is shifting that in some places.) I think the immediate answer is that something like a Microsoft Account-based login system and Cloud-based key escrow becomes more unavoidable in situations like that. But I'm not sure and hopefully there are smart minds exploring some of these scenarios in the long term. Relatedly, I know there are some long-term creatives trying to figure out if "smartphone" is becoming a required utility for the modern world (TOTP has already made that a recently strong requirement in plenty of areas; soon you may not be able to bank without a mobile device, for instance) and the "phoneless" may be its own evolving economic crisis on top of homelessness to deal with in the long term. "Give everyone phones" may sound like a curt, dumb answer, but it may end up being something close to the answer; go to your local DMV and get a secure phone as your digital ID to go with your physical ID. I don't know if that is the plan, I just know it is a plan I've heard we need to consider, that "baseline personal hardware" may be an ever-increasing need.

WorldMaker 4y ago

Very good questions and I've been wondering that some myself. I imagine of the Big 3 Microsoft is likely the one to have been thinking about this the most. With Microsoft no longer having a smartphone ecosystem of their own, they will likely have to support both Apple and Android devices and they probably also need to have more answers for the "neither" scenarios as well (de-Googled Android users still sometimes have Windows PCs, for instance; Windows users are said to include a larger share of older "dumb phone" generations; etc). Also, most of those access stations themselves are generally Windows PCs for the intersection of cheapest available hardware and lowest common denominator software. (Though I've heard Chrome OS is shifting that in some places.) I think the immediate answer is that something like a Microsoft Account-based login system and Cloud-based key escrow becomes more unavoidable in situations like that. But I'm not sure and hopefully there are smart minds exploring some of these scenarios in the long term. Relatedly, I know there are some long-term creatives trying to figure out if "smartphone" is becoming a required utility for the modern world (TOTP has already made that a recently strong requirement in plenty of areas; soon you may not be able to bank without a mobile device, for instance) and the "phoneless" may be its own evolving economic crisis on top of homelessness to deal with in the long term. "Give everyone phones" may sound like a curt, dumb answer, but it may end up being something close to the answer; go to your local DMV and get a secure phone as your digital ID to go with your physical ID. I don't know if that is the plan, I just know it is a plan I've heard we need to consider, that "baseline personal hardware" may be an ever-increasing need.